


With The Poor And Mean And Lowly

by Merixcil



Series: Advent Fics 2018 [19]
Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: F/F, Gen, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25364179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merixcil/pseuds/Merixcil
Summary: Audrey offers to help Laura out with her Meals On Wheels duties in the run up to Christmas
Relationships: Audrey Horne & Laura Palmer, Audrey Horne/Laura Palmer
Series: Advent Fics 2018 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824643
Kudos: 1





	With The Poor And Mean And Lowly

“Sorry, I can’t come out on Christmas Eve. I’ve got Meals on Wheels.”

Audrey pauses, her sole textbook clutched tight to her chest. The students milling past her in the school corridor, rushing to and from lunch, protest for no time at all and then make their way around her like she is a rock in a stream. 

Donna Hayward rolls her eyes. “C’mon, Laura. That stuff’s great for college applications but that doesn’t mean you have to do it over Christmas.”

“Yeah!” Bobby Briggs agrees, his arm tightening around Laura’s shoulder. “Them not letting you have Christmas Eve off is abusive. Why d’you wanna work for an abusive charity?”

Laura laughs, forever unphased, and closes her locker. “No one’s forcing me! I volunteered. Besides, I’m friends with a lot of the people we deliver to. It’ll be nice to see them all over the holidays.”

It’s hard not to smile at the self important derision in Donna’s face. Like she can’t imagine ever being friends with someone less fortunate, or she can’t conceive that anyone would be less fortunate than her. 

Bobby’s eyes narrow over Audrey. “What are you looking at?”

“I wanna help.” Audrey says, before she can overthink it. Her eyes bore into Laura’s. “With the Meals on Wheels.”

Heaven help her, when Laura smiles at her it feels like the angel Gabriel himself has chosen her to bear this suffering. With his thousand flaming eyes, his wings that slip between this world and the next with all the grace of broken bones and tormented glory. Audrey steps out of the current of students and sidles over to where the three of them are crowded around the locker, their arms empty. They couldn’t signpost their decision to skip class any more obviously. 

“Really?” Laura shrugs Bobby off. “That would be great, Audrey.”

Audrey smiles right back at her, letting her eyes slink over to Bobby and Donna. Stunned, immovable, unable to conjure up a moment of basic compassion. 

Christmas Eve is cold as ever in Twin Peaks. Audrey stands at the side of the road, down by the Roadhouse, trussed up in the thickest winter jacket her father’s money could buy. The silver back of the car Laura drives comes sailing round the corner up ahead, breaking just right, so the passenger door stops right at Audrey’s feet. 

“Hop in.” Laura beckons. 

Audrey doesn’t need further encouragement. The car isn’t warm, but the engine alone makes it less frigid than the outside air. She smiles at Laura, then glances to the stacked palettes of food on the back seat. “Where are we headed first?”

“The trailer park.” Laura kicks the accelerator back into gear. 

Under strict instructions from her father and with none of her own transport, Audrey has never been to the trailer park before. She sits forward, suddenly excited about more than Laura’s proximity. 

Fat Trout Trailer Park is a full half hour drive out of town, not even really in Twin Peaks anymore but they were never likely to not take advantage of the extra help coming in from Meals on Wheels. Laura pulls up next to one of the trailers and start urging Audrey to pick up as much food as she can carry. 

An old man emerges from the trailer, his dark hair and long face betraying a frailness that the bulk of his winter clothing would try to hide. “Hello, Laura!”

“Happy Holidays, Carl!” Laura goes rushing up to him and pulls him into a hug. “Is everybody home?”

“Well, the Brady’s skipped town to go see the grandmother down in Olympia, and Josie’s out seeing that boyfriend of her’s, but otherwise, yeah.” Carl nods towards Audrey. “I see you brought a friend.”

“Yeah.” Laura turns back to Audrey with expectant eyes, prompting her, wordlessly, to speak. 

“It’s Christmas.” Audrey takes her cue. “What better time to give back to the community?”

She has never gone to church not once in her entire life. Even when her cousin was christened, she fell ill out of the blue on the day and never had to go. 

Laura strides off into the maze of trailers and Audrey follows her, standing at the bottom of the steps and waiting patiently while Laura rings doorbells and asks how people are. Pets their dogs, talks to them like she knows them. It’s hard to believe that this person could ever stand to be in the room with selfish Donna Hayward, or inconsiderate Bobby Briggs. 

“Who’s your friend?” People ask, and Laura introduces Audrey with enthusiasm. They get invited in for cups of coffee and Christmas biscuits. They live in squalid conditions, mostly kept clean but the threadbare furniture and insubstantial decor always speaks for itself. It’s nothing like the Great Northern, and Audrey finds herself shuffling her feet in the doorways, trying hard not to look too closely at any one part of the whole. 

They traipse back to the car, and despite her coat and the space heaters running in most of the trailers, Audrey hasn’t really been warm all day. Laura pauses, her keys out and ready to unlock the car, take them on to the next group of people anticipating their help. “It’s hard, right?”

Audrey nods, then shakes her head. “Harder for them.” 

That seems to amuse Laura. The two of them fall back into the car, and when Audrey moves to turn on the radio, it’s wall to wall Christmas music to see them back to town. 

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted as part of a multi chaptered 'advent fics' fic that I'm trying to split up. If you think you've read it before, you probably have


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